Chang's accuser attempts suicide

OUT OF HOPE Before swallowing 70 sleeping pills, Parris Chang's former aide and accuser wrote him a letter saying she would await him `at the bottom of the inferno'

STAFF WRITER

Betty Wong was rushed to the hospital after swallowing more than 70 sleeping pills yesterday. She was upset by DPP legislator Parris Chang's recent decision to end their extra-marital affair.

PHOTO: HSIEH TUNG-MING, TAIPEI TIMES

A woman upset by the way the DPP has treated her complaints against party Legislator Parris Chang (張旭成) attempted suicide yesterday by swallowing more than 70 sleeping pills.

According to local media yesterday, Betty Wong (汪鳳英), Chang's former aide, was discovered shortly after swallowing the pills by a magazine reporter assigned to watch her.

Wong was taken to the hospital, where she was listed as being in stable condition.

Ho Bih-jen (何碧珍), director of the DPP's department of women's development, said Wong's attempted suicide was behavior that "deserves no encouragement."

In addition, Ho said the party had offered Wong legal assistance, but the woman had consistently refused.

In June, Wong said Chang had recently ended their extra-marital affair. She said Chang was a frequent womanizer and asked the DPP to probe Chang's behavior and discipline him by demanding he step down from his post.

But the DPP last week concluded that it is up to the law to determine whether Chang was guilty of any wrongdoing. The party also said it could not do anything about Wong's claims that Chang had sexually harassed other women, since no other complaints had been filed.

At the time, Wong said that "if Chang doesn't step down from his post, it is I who shall die."

According to the media, Wong has been living with a female reporter for Scoop Weekly magazine (獨家報導). The president of the weekly, Shen Yeh (沈野), said the reporter had been living with Wong to try to prevent her from doing anything rash.

However, the reporter said on TV yesterday that when she left Wong alone briefly, around noon, she swallowed the pills.

"When I came back I found her crying. I asked her if she took any drugs and she said swallowed about 70 sleeping pills," the reporter said. "I suggested that she be sent to the hospital but she refused."

Wong left seven letters to people including Chang, DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), Shen and her ex-husband and son.

In the letter to Chang, Wong said she would await him "at the bottom of the inferno," the media reported.